Lochaber area gritting routes for winter confirmed

The priorities with which The Highland Council will grit roads within the Lochaber area this winter have been approved by the Lochaber Area Committee in Fort William today (Tuesday 21 August 2017).

Members have approved a winter maintenance plan for Lochaber Area, which includes priority road lists and maps showing the priority gritting routes.

The Committee were meeting today to discuss the priorities of gritting a network of 235km primary routes (35%), 51km of secondary routes (7%) and 395km of other routes (58%) in the Lochaber area.

Primary routes are treated first, followed by secondary routes and crews will only move on to treat other roads when the primary and secondary routes are all completed.

The routes have been set within the context of the Council’s current Winter Maintenance Policy which is in place to ensure a consistent level of service is applied across all areas of the Highlands. Each year local areas put in place their Winter Maintenance Plan to cover the operational details in order to deliver a service locally within existing budget and resources.

Leader of Lochaber Area Committee, Cllr Andrew Baxter said: “It is of the utmost importance to reduce the risk to vehicles and pedestrians during winter weather. It is also important that our emergency services are able to move around safely. We will monitor the effectiveness of this plan and can take action to reprioritise if necessary within existing resources.”

Lochaber Area employs 22 staff delivering winter maintenance at its depots and office in Carr’s Corner and Strontian. Eight gritters spread on average 3,000 tonnes of salt each year in Lochaber Area.